Newton Community Pride relying on the power of the arts, promoted a captivating way to bring art lovers and supporters together in this transitional, almost post-pandemic world. On March 30, friends, artists, Newton's representatives, guests and families celebrated Nancy Schön's extensive artistic career and outstanding accomplishments. Newton-based legendary artist Nancy Schön continues to brighten the scene. Nancy welcomed her audience with her unique, well-known warmth and charisma by sharing insightful stories and highlights of her life as an artist, dedicated mother and beloved grandmother. Best known for the charming, iconic landmark, “Make Way for Ducklings” sculpture located at the Boston Public Garden since 1987, Nancy's work can be seen all over Boston, New England and in Moscow, where the only replica of the ducklings stands as a gift from United States First Lady Barbara … [Read more...] about A TRIBUTE TO A CELEBRATED PUBLIC ARTIST AND SCULPTOR: NANCY SCHÖN

What would you do if you were headed up from Cambridge across the Charles River to Boston College’s McMullen Art Gallery just outside the main campus on Commonwealth Ave — #2101 to be exact — looking for a little color to brighten up the gloom of an early fall New England morning? I had promised our two art lovers in the back seat a short, scenic drive plus a destination with bongo drums and banana plants enriched by the bodacious senoritas and testosterone-fueled senors to be met with on every yard of Cuba’s balmy shores. And without the bother of international flight! Ah, but, as usual we had reckoned without the artist, and what academics call, if you will, ‘inspiration!’ We arrived at Boston College’s McMullen Museum of Art to view “Mariano: Variations on a Theme | Variaciones sobre un tema,” a retrospective exhibition of 140 oil paintings, watercolors, and drawings that … [Read more...] about MARIANO IN HIS MANY, MANY GUISES AT BC’S MCMULLEN GALLERY

Rare is the contemporary artist who can make the “personal” universal. Liz Shepherd is one of these special artists. She experienced agonies with Covid-19: her contraction of the virus, loss of creative time, total isolation and a non-Thanksgiving. Her brush with death, loneliness and confusion is translated into a positive vision at the Boston Sculptors Gallery, one all viewers may relate to. Shepherd is an artist who has spent decades exploring many media, and is in total control of her craft. She confidently mixes soft-media papier-mâché with the unyielding hardness of welded steel. A lost Thanksgiving meal is her symbol for the devastation wrought by the virus. Three empty black-wire chairs surround a non-existent table. An exquisitely crafted paper pitcher, a serving bowl and ladle float in the air, Empty placemats hang nearby. On a wall close-by, 16 colorful … [Read more...] about SURvIVING THE LONELINESS OF COVID: LIZ SHEPHERD’S POWERFUL UNGATHERED AT BOSTON SCULPTORS GALLERY